Head of government: Prime Ministers Faraj Said ibn Ghanem until April 29 and, from May 14, ʿAbd-al Karim al-Iryani

In May 1998 ʿAbd-al Karim al-Iryani became Yemen’s prime minister, a post he had held in Yemen (Sanʿaʾ) in 1980-83. Iryani had most recently been serving as foreign minister and had also at various times held other ministerial posts, including planning and education.

The long-standing Yemeni-Saudi negotiations to delineate their common border made little progress in 1998. Yemeni-Saudi relations, in fact, suffered a brief setback in July when Saudi forces attacked a small Yemeni contingent on Duwaima Island in the Red Sea. Peace was restored quickly, but the island continued to be claimed by each country. Another foreign-policy problem was resolved in October, however, when an international arbitration tribunal in The Hague decided in Yemen’s favour in a territorial dispute with Eritrea over the Hanish Islands.

On December 28 a group calling itself the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army kidnapped 16 tourists in southern Yemen, 12 from the U.K. and 2 each from the U.S. and Australia. They were taken to a remote mountain retreat, where on December 30 Yemeni security forces attacked the kidnappers. In the ensuing gun battle four of the tourists, three kidnappers, and one policeman were killed. The other 12 tourists were freed.